Amitabha!
Hello everyone.
I'm so happy to meet everyone again online.
We are following the topic
of our last discussion,
which is, how to rely on a guru
and what kind of mindset we as disciples should have.
Last time we mentioned that as a disciple,
when seeking a guru or master
for learning the Buddhadharma,
We must avoid three faults.
We are like a dharma vessel,
like a container.
We need to ensure that this cup
is not upside down,
nor is it
filthy inside,
or having holes at the bottom.
This is called "Removing the Three Defects of the Container."
Today we will be discussing
Contemplation on Six Thoughts.
When we follow a teacher or guru,
listen to dharma teaching,
and properly practice,
we should have this kind of mindset:
we should contemplate on six thoughts.
First, we should think ourselves as a sick person.
The thought of a sick person.
Why should we think of ourselves as a sick person?
Because through our countless rebirths,
we have been carrying a lot of fixated views
and ignorance.
With these negative thoughts,
we are like a person
who is seriously ill,
being tormented by the illness.
What is called a serious illness?
What is a severe disease?
It is the so-called Three Poisons.
Which Three Poisons?
Greed, Anger, and Ignorance.
All the negativities,
the source of all evils,
come from Greed, Anger, and Ignorance.
What is Greed?
When we see things we like
and pleasing environment,
people, and circumstances,
we arouse
very strong attachment to it.
Yet when we encounter a difficult situation
or things we don't like,
including being hurt or defeated by others
in all kinds of ways,
we become very angry
and hostile.
This is Anger.
Next is Ignorance,
the so-called no-clarity (not-knowing).
We are usually in the darkness,
not knowing what is the truth,
what we should be doing,
what we shouldn't be doing.
Therefore we tend to let our past
habits,
ignorance and afflictions.
guide our actions.
In this way, we accumulate all kinds of bad karma
and negative actions.
Consequently we bear a lot of pain and suffering.
So it is said in Buddhadharma that
we are a sick person with serious illness of Ignorance.
Now that we have established ourselves
as a seriously sick person,
we need to find a doctor.
As for the master or guru we are dependent on,
they are our dharma teacher,
they are just like a doctor.
When we patients go to see a doctor,
the doctor will diagnose our
sources and origin of the illness,
what's the cause,
how did it start.
All of these
will be diagnosed.
So the guru or master
is just like as a doctor
who takes on us the patients
who are suffering from the Illness of Ignorance,
and provides medical treatment. (This is the second thought.)
Then, the teachings they give us,
I mean, the dharma that the master teaches,
is like a medicine,
a drug.
We have to think of it as medicine.
This is the third thought.
That is, regard the teacher’s words
or the teachings
as medicine.
Now the fourth thought.
After we have attentively listened to
the words of the guru or master
or received instructions from them,
we have to follow them truthfully and practice them
diligently.
This is like taking medicine on time.
This thought of treating the illness is the fourth thought.
The fifth thought
is to think of the speaker as Tathagata.
The speaker here
means the teachers and gurus who expound on
the Buddhadharma
in order to lead us
to the path of liberation.
They are like a buddha
who is teaching in front of us.
So we should regard them --
very seriously, sincerely,
earnestly cherish them,
regard them as a Tathagata,
as if a Buddha or Bodhisattva
appeared in front of us
to deliver the teachings to us.
Therefore, there is also a saying: Seeing the teacher as a Buddha.
Because the Buddha passed into parinirvana
more than two thousand five hundred years ago.
He can’t teach all the disciples one by one in person
He can only pass down
the authentic Dharma teachings.
These authentic Dharma teachings require
the so-called
lineage masters
or gurus
to hold and pass these Buddha's teachings
down to us,
thus providing us these teachings in the present time.
Thus we say: the person who speaks dharma should be regarded as the Tathagata.
We need to have a very respectful
and attentive attitude to learn.
The sixth is the thought for the authentic Dharma to remain in the world forever.
Because when we learn these Dharma, authentic dharma.
our ultimate purpose
is for the benefit of all beings and therefore wishing to attain Buddhahood; this is why we learn the Dharma.
This is the so-called Six Thoughts.
Namely, think of ourselves as a sick person,
Then think of the master or guru as a doctor.
And then regard the words of the guru
as medicine.
The fourth is
to think of proper practice as treating our illness.
The fifth is
to is to think of these masters and gurus,
who give us the Buddhist teachings as the Tathagata.
They are truly the spokespersons of the Buddha,
coming to us to help dispel
a lot of our ignorance.
Finally, we should wish for the authentic Dharma to stay in the world forever.
I hope that we devote ourselves to learning Buddhism
with the ultimate motivation
of wishing to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all beings.
With such Bodhichitta, we learn and practice dharma.
This is very important.
Next, if we practice
by relying on the teacher properly,
what benefits will this bring to us?
“The Great Treatise On The Stages Of The Path To Enlightenment” （Lamrim)
describes nine kinds of benefits of relying on the teacher.
First, we will come closer to Buddhahood.
When we properly follow the teachings of the guru,
We can
very swiftly,
as if there is a shortcut,
quickly achieve the ultimate state of Buddhahood.
The second is we will please the Buddhas.
This means that
all the Buddhas in the ten directions
will be very happy,
praising us for our being able
to rely on spiritual teachers to practice Buddhism.
The third
is we will always encounter good teachers.
This is because we are following a proper method
to study and rely on the guru.
In this way,
in life after life,
we will be able
to encounter pure, authentic teachers
or gurus to lead us
down the path of learning Buddhadharma.
The fourth is we will not fall into miserable realms.
If we can follow the proper way to rely on
our guru to study and practice Dharma,
we will be able to avoid being born in the three lower realms,
that is, the Hell Realm, the Hungry-Ghost Realm, and the Animal Realm.
We can be reborn into the human realm and the gods realm
and continue to study Buddhism,
ultimately escaping from the samsara of the six realms
and attain the fruit of Buddhahood.
This is the fourth benefit -- not falling into lower realms.
The fifth is we can
quickly cut off all the afflictions and bad karma.
Because we follow the words of the teacher
and properly rely on the dharma
to practice,
we can cut off our greed, hatred and delusion,
the afflictions that tie us up.
Therefore we will no longer recreate all kinds of
negative karma for the future.
This is the fifth point.
The sixth is we will not back away from the Bodhisattva deeds.
When we are learning a Dharma,
relying on a spiritual teacher
we need to develop Bodhicitta
and practice a Bodhisattva's deeds.
There will be many kinds of difficulties in this process.
Because we have our teacher,
master,
guru to lead us,
urge us
and monitor us
our mind of generating Bodhicitta
will persevere
steadfastly
and will not easily
retreat in the face of various difficulties.
This is the sixth.
The seventh is we will always be mindful.
Because we in the past
have let ignorance and afflictions
lead us in doing all kinds of things,
and because our delusion is a habit since beginningless time,
it is extremely powerful;
Only under the skillful guidance of a spiritual teacher
can we help ourselves through stages of listening, contemplation and meditation
to establish mindfulness and the right view of the Buddhadharma,
so as to cut off all sorts of delusions.
The eighth is
we will gradually increase our merits and resources.
Because of the skillful guidance of our teacher,
we can practice
the Five Precepts, the Ten Goods, the Six Paramitas, the Four Magnetizing Methods,
the Six Paramitas, as well as the boundless deeds of a Bodhisattva.
Thus eventually we can
in the process of our practice
accumulate a very large amount of merits.
Number nine,
we will be able to realize all the current and ultimate benefits.
Because we are able to properly
rely on our spiritual teacher to practice,
we can accomplish
dual benefits of both the present and the ultimate.
Above is what the Lamrim
talked about.
If we can in such a way
properly
rely on a guru to practice Buddhism,
we can reap these nine benefits.
In today's video
I have explained to you
this topic of relying on the guru.
Thank you very much.
I wish everyone well. Amitabha.